Giant beach balls, glowing air-traffic batons, a rock quarry, references to Irish dance sensation Michael Flatley, a paleobotanist, and the Venus de Milo: These things make up the wildly imaginative world of SISSYa new dance-theater play written, directed, and choreographed by Celia Rowlson-Hall, which runs April 24–26 at Baryshnikov Arts.
Though Rowlson-Hall got her start in the New York City concert-dance scene, for over a decade she’s worked primarily in film, creating her own award-winning work and choreographing for projects including HBO’s “Girls” and A24’s Aftersun.
For SISSY, Rowlson-Hall reimagines the Greek myth of Sisyphus (the story of a man forced to roll a boulder up a hill, only for it to roll back down every time it nears the top) from a female perspective, to explore her experiences caring for her young son and ailing father while trying not to lose herself or her artistry along the way. SISSY features dancer Ida Saki in the titular role alongside A-list actors Lucas Hedges, Marisa Tomei, and Zoë Winters. A group of five dancers rounds out the cast.
Celia Rowlson-Hall. Photo by Quinn Wharton, courtesy Baryshnikov Arts.
When you were profiled in Dance Magazine in 2014, you said that you’re drawn to myths of all kinds. Why Sisyphus?
I’m always interested in images that are in the canon of our psyches. If I say “Sisyphus,” you can conjure up an image immediately. A couple of years ago, I was at a point where I’d been trying to get my new film off the ground for five-plus years, and also my wife and I were three years into a baby journey. I felt like if I wasn’t pushing one of these goals, or both of them, up the mountain every day, they just wouldn’t happen. I had this image of Sisyphus, and I imagined a camera revealing a woman who had been behind the rock the whole time. The person that’s been doing all of the work, but not seen. What’s her story?
At first, I assumed it would be a film. And then, once my son Romeo was born, I was like, I want to go home to the theater. When he was 6 months old I did a two-week residency through Baryshnikov Arts, and then last summer, during his nap times, I started writing the script.
Can you talk a bit about your creative process?
I generally get an image in my head, and then I bring that to the studio and explore it. The images were Venus de Milo, an airport tarmac, and Sisyphus. I didn’t know how or why. I just kept creating the dances. Then I started creating a story within these dances. And I got the idea to create a play within a play; but that first play is dance. It’s a lot of narratives to weave together.
Why Venus de Milo?
Alexandros of Antioch, who carved Venus de Milo, we don’t know that much about him. I like this idea of an unknown person making one of the most well-known pieces of art. It represents what it is to be an artist. Whether you get attention or get panned or fail, you have to show up again. And that is a Sisyphean task in itself.
You’re working with a cast of well-known actors in addition to experienced dancers. What excited you about bringing these two groups together?
I think a lot of actors actually want to move, want to dance. It’s been about finding those people who are brave enough to go for it. I like mixing dancers and actors together. I think they bring other things out in the other person.
Marisa Tomei with the cast of Sissy. Photo by Quinn Wharton, courtesy Barsyhnikov Arts.
What made you want to return to the stage? How do the challenges and joys of this process differ from film work?
Last year I choreographed five different films, and not one of them took place in New York City. And so, if I was going to be with my family, I had to uproot them. I had this moment of like, How do I have an artistic practice but also a sustainable life for my family? I wanted to be home. This opportunity came at the right time. But, wow, is it challenging. I wrote something a lot more complicated than I thought I did.
Ida Saki in SISSY. Photo by Quinn Wharton, courtesy Baryshnikov Arts.
The word “sissy” feels loaded in so many ways. Why did you choose it?
I loved the idea that Sissy is the female version of Sisyphus. It’s also “sister,” and over the past couple of years so much of my life has been my relationship with my sister as we were trying to keep our father alive. Sissy’s brother in the show is Fuss. I had this idea that they inherited this job from their family, of getting this rock into the sky every night. But Sissy is the one who actually ends up having to do all of the work. And then we get another meaning: the character of the Quarry Worker being called a sissy by his dad, and the emasculating feelings around that.
How has your relationship to the Sisyphean task of motherhood changed since you started working on this project?
I’m in the studio from 10 to 6, and that means I get to see my son for maybe an hour combined each day, which is so painful. So I have to make this time everything, because I’m making a sacrifice, and I want it to be worth something. The biggest thing is being laser-present in the studio and then laser-present with my son.
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